The Ultimate Guide to Choosing shock absorbing material Solution Protection

Because shock is usually associated with adverse effects to objects or individuals, it will ultimately cause inefficiencies, such as waste, rework, and downtime. Shock absorption, therefore, increases the lifespan and/or the safe operation of the application.

How Is Shock Energy Absorbed?

A process called damping—the dispersion or disruption of the energy caused by shock’s impact forces—absorbs the energy from shock by decreasing the amplitude (strength) of the shock energy’s wave or by changing the wave’s frequency. Absorption reduces or eliminates the adverse effects, injury, or damage to an object or individual caused by shock.

What Are the Most Important Characteristics of a Shock Absorption Material?

To be effective, a shock absorption material must have the capacity to eliminate or reduce oscillations across a wide range of frequencies. To be effective in an industrial environment, a shock absorption material must perform well in a wide range of temperatures, even changing temperatures, regardless of the source of the shock, over an extended period of time.

What Is Sorbothane®?

Sorbothane is a proprietary, thermoset, polyether-based polyurethane material with viscoelastic properties—that is, it acts as a liquid to absorb shock and as an elastic solid when at rest. It performs by converting the impact of the shock energy to a small amount of heat.

As an industrial material, Sorbothane is resistant to fire and chemical solvents found in an industrial environment. It also performs through a wide range of temperatures and millions of cycles without degrading in performance.

Why Is Sorbothane the Best Material for Shock Absorption?

Sorbothane was specifically designed for shock absorption and is manufactured to outperform every other material on the market. What makes Sorbothane the best material for shock absorption?

• • It absorbs more than 90% of shock energy and more than 50% of vibration energy;

• • It performs in temperatures ranging from –20° to 160° Fahrenheit (–29° to 72° Celsius)];

• • It performs at frequencies ranging from 10 to 30,000 Hertz;

• • It’s damping ratio is 0.344 at 2.34 HZ;

• • It doesn’t support bacterial or fungal growth and is relatively unaffected by industrial solvents such as diesel fuel, kerosene, and hydraulic fluid;

• • It has an extremely long shelf life; and

• • It has a superior damping coefficient.

Contact Us

The Sorbothane product line includes superior shock absorbing bushings and washers for use in machinery and high performance isolation feet to isolate noise and vibration in system components. In addition, Sorbothane is available in strips and sheet stock. It can be fabricated in sizes, shapes, and colors based on your specifications, as well.

Interested in learning how Sorbothane can provide a solution for your product or idea? Request a quote from Sorbothane today.

Shock absorbers are integral suspension system components that dictate many important suspension and vehicle characteristics. This is why they can be classified based on many different categories. The most important categories are as follows:

According To Construction

Certain shock absorbers are structural components of the vehicle like a strut and so the construction can vary according to the suspension type. Essentially there are three types of shocks that can be distinguished based on construction: Spring-seated or coilovers, struts, and shock absorbers. Shock absorbers have a chamber with a piston. This chamber is filled with some sort of fluid that resists the movement of the piston arm. Struts and coilovers have a shock absorber as the main component but the construction is varied. They usually have coil springs attached to the housing.  

The difference between struts and coilovers is that struts are designed to bear larger side loads and are mounted directly to the vehicle’s chassis. Coilovers are commonly used in place of conventional shock absorbers and also replace the factory suspension springs. An advantage of this arrangement is the adjustability of the ride height. By altering the spring length, you can change the ride height of the car. Struts can be further classified into repairable and non-repairable types where the repairable ones allow the replacement of individual components like springs and shock absorbers.

According To Design

Shock absorbers can be classified based on the internal design of the chamber that produces many different types of shock absorbers. The most common types are Mono-tube and Twin-Tube shock absorbers. Mono-tube shocks have a single tube in which the piston is suspended, whereas in the twin-tube design there are two chambers – outer and inner tube. Twin-tube shock absorbers are commonly used in commercial vehicles due to their agreeable characteristics whereas mono-tube designs are common in sports applications. 

According To Adjustability

Adjustable Shock absorbers allow the user to fine-tune the shock absorber in many different ways to suit their exact needs. The user can adjust the compression and rebound damping. These parameters determine how the shock absorber will react when operated. However, you require a keen understanding of the device to be able to effectively tune the shocks and get useful results. For most folks, non-adjustable type shock absorbers are the better fit.

According To Fluid Type

Shock absorbers can be further categorized into two types based on the fluid used inside the chamber. Although all shock absorbers have some sort of hydraulic oil, some shocks use special gasses along with the conventional oil to prevent aeration, enhance heat dissipation, and ultimately perform better. On this basis, you can classify shocks into hydraulic and gas shocks. Gas shocks usually have pressurized nitrogen gas inserted into the chamber. Gas shocks usually come with a reservoir where pressurized gas is stored. This reservoir may be directly attached to the shock absorber housing or can be placed away and have lines running to the shock. Gas shocks tend to be aimed toward off-roading and heavy-duty applications where there is a constant requirement of shock absorption like when driving over rough terrains.

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What Should I Consider Before Buying Shock Absorbers?

As you can tell from the many types, shock absorbers vary in many different ways and so it is easy to get confused when purchasing new ones, especially if you want something better than what came from the factory. The below list provides an insight into factors you should be considering before you buy new shock absorbers for your vehicle.

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